As we previously announced, the revamped Star Trek series with a younger cast recently announced that actor George Takei’s character Hikaru Sulu now played by actor John Cho was going to be revealed as gay in the upcoming Star Trek film: Star Trek Beyond. Sulu would be revealed to have a male partner and a child and although was a part of Starfleet, would be a loving family man. Writer Simon Pegg wrote this storyline into the film for all the right reasons. This seems like a fitting tribute to the actor, who after coming out in 2005, years after is run on Star Trek ended, has become a fierce advocate of LGTB issues later in life. Sure there are some people on the interwebs who might have an issue with it, but for the most part, many were welcome to the idea as a nice tribute to the actor and all he’s done post-Star Trek.

Turns out one person that isn’t on board with the sexuality change is George Takei himself. In a recent interview, although the actor is happy seeing a gay character in the film, he’s not sold on the idea that Sulu being gay is a good idea.

“I’m delighted that there’s a gay character. Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it’s really unfortunate.”

Actor John Cho called Takei to give him the good news, and even then Takei expressed his reservations.

“I told him, ‘Be imaginative and create a character who has a history of being gay, rather than Sulu, who had been straight all this time, suddenly being revealed as being ‘closeted.’”

Now keep in mind that this technically is an alternate reality. After all, Spock is in a romantic relationship with Uhura in this timeline, something that was not part of the original Star Trek canon. So there’s no rule saying that Sulu can’t be gay in this reality. But if the original actor who is gay in real life doesn’t give his blessings, it does put you in a tough spot. The film is proceeding with this storyline even without Takei’s blessing, so we’ll just have to see how this turns out.